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Benefit Crystallisation Events

Abi Hortin avatar
Written by Abi Hortin
Updated over a month ago

This area of Plannr is scheduled for a full review in 2026, to allow for the completion of repeated Crystallisation events and recording a full history, along with recording LSA at a client level and culminated across all pensions.

You can currently log the latest Benefit Crystallisation Event (BCE) in Plannr under a pension plan.

To find the BCE record, head to your client's pension plan and from the side Details menu, select Crystallisation.

You can then enter as much information as you hold from your crystallisation statement in the available fields as follows:

  1. Crystallisation Amount is the portion of the plan value that the client has crystallised. e.g. a £900,000 pension with £400,000 crystallised - enter £400,000 here.

    1. NB: If the provider has created a new drawdown plan with a new policy reference, you can ignore this field as the entire plan will be the crystallised fund.

  2. Crystallisation Benefit PLEASE IGNORE.

  3. Crystallisation Fund PLEASE IGNORE.

  4. Crystallisation Frequency is a dropdown for any regular drawdown income being taken, e.g. monthly.

  5. Fund Amount PLEASE IGNORE.

  6. Income Taken Amount is any regular drawdown income being paid, e.g. £1,000.

    1. NB: Best practice until the BCE area is rebuilt in Plannr would be to record this income being drawn in the Transactions area.

  7. Is Crystallised Yes/No you can select Yes.

  8. Lifetime Allowance % is no longer applicable unless you're recording a pre-2024 BCE.

  9. LTA Applied Yes/No only applies to pre-2024 BCEs.

  10. Maximum Income Amount is where you can record the maximum level, if the max isn't being drawn.

  11. MPAA Trigger is a free text field to enter comments. Current annual allowance (2025/26 is £10,000).

  12. PCLS % is for you to enter 25% or other amount where applicable.

  13. Reason dropdown selection is for you to choose either FlexAccess or UFPLS100.

  14. Start Date is for the date of first payment.

  15. End Date can be used where just PCLS is being taken - e.g. same as the Start Date.

  16. Tax Free Amount is the cash figure for the PCLS being drawn in this BCE. Enter zero if no PCLS being taken.

  17. Uncrystallised Fund is the value of the remaining pension pot not in drawdown, e.g. £500,000 from the total pot of £900,000 where £400,000 was crystallised.

  18. Hit Save to record your event.

Current functionality only permits one BCE per plan. In this instance, where regular BCEs occur you may wish to consider creating a plan for each tranche, so you can record each BCE separately.

We highly recommend, until changes are rolled out in this area, to add the following client level custom fields to record information that current legislation requires you to track:

  • LSA Total Lump Sum Allowance Taken (across all pensions) £____ (Limit is currently £268,275 for 2025/26)

  • LSDBA Lump Sum Death Benefit Allowance (across all pensions) £____ (£1m max)

Don't forget to ensure these are not compulsory / required fields as they will not apply to every client you work with.

Best Practice advice

Finally, where you are detailing a Lump Sum Allowance event now, we would recommend you take the following steps in Plannr:

  1. Complete your client level custom field for LSA taken

  2. Add a transaction showing the PCLS taken out

  3. Add a transaction schedule for any regular income being drawn

And for pension plans going into full drawdown:

  1. On your existing pension plan, add a transaction for the crystallised pot being transferred out

  2. Add a New Business Event under the category pension transfer

  3. Mark the existing plan in Plan Details as inactive - with the reason being drawdown

  4. Add the new pension plan

  5. Add a New Business Event - replacing the existing plan and refer to the previous pension plan

  6. Add a transaction to detail the transfer in

  7. Add a transaction schedule for any regular income being drawn

  8. Link the previous pension plan to the new one for reference

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